MSU and Ford collaborate to help veterans help honeybees - 05.20.2019

<p>Each year honeybee colonies in the United States decline an additional 30 percent, according to research published by the nonprofit Bee Informed Partnership and Apiary Inspectors of America. But did you know honeybees and other pollinators produce more than 30 percent of the world's food supply? Last year, Ford launched a global beekeeping program with honeybee hives at its Dearborn World Headquarters. And now Ford has partnered with Michigan State University to help the university with its Heroes to Hives Program. </p><p>Michigan is home to 640,000 veterans who are facing a multitude of challenges as they transition from military to civilian life. These challenges include anxiety, depression, dealing with service-related health issues and disabilities and finding career opportunities that are personally rewarding. The <a href="https://www.facebook.com/heroestohives/">Heroes to Hives</a> Program was started by <a href="https://vimeo.com/316283406">Adam Ingrao</a>, a veteran and now Michigan State University Extension educator, to help veterans who may suffer the effects of PTSD by training them to be beekeepers.</p><p>Heroes to Hives had no location to carry out the project in southeast Michigan, where the majority of the veterans are located. So Cormac Wright, Global Energy Systems Project Manager at Ford, coordinated to provide Adam and his crew with a location at Henry Ford's old farm just outside Ann Arbor.</p><p>“Heroes to Hives started in 2015; my wife and I had a vision for what this program could do for veterans,” Ingrao says. I had transitioned from the military in 2005 and after that transition, really struggled to find purpose and find that next mission. As veterans, we're service oriented individuals and I wanted to continue serving my country and my community. And really for me, it started in 2010 when I took a beekeeping class at my alma mater, Cal-Poly, San Luis Obispo. When I transferred to Michigan State University to finish my PhD, my wife and I had a conversation about the effects t